You know how I love Florence Welch (and her machine), so it’s no wonder how hooked I am to Shake It Out, the first single from her new album, Ceremonials. By hooked I mean, playing the song on loop at the office, at home, and while running. It’s one of those songs you need to play with the volume turned all the way up. You either listen to it on blaring speakers (or headphones) or you don’t listen to it at all!
I first heard it on Jam 88.3 late last year. I didn’t even have to bother taking note of the lyrics because this song was unmistakably Florence + The Machine’s! Oh it was love at first tune. Seriously, how could you not be drawn to those pure vocals set against sublime instrumentation?
So yes, I’ve been catching the song on the radio for a few months now but it was only a few days ago that I really listened to it. See, I’ve been sleeping for less than three hours a day (thanks to ze thesis!) so it’s truly been a challenge to drag my sleepy self to the office by 8am. But not last Wednesday, when this song played on Jam 88.3, on my way to work. Talk about the perfect perk-me-up to an otherwise dreary, heavy-eyed morning. If Florence’s powerful “shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out oh whoa” can’t shake out your morning sleepiness, I don’t know what will. Which gives me a wonderful idea: the chorus is the perfect alarm clock tone!
I fell in love with this song when I first heard it in 2008. I rarely listen to the radio anymore but when I do and this song plays, I get very excited and eagerly turn up the volume dial. Because I like to take things literally, I refer to the song as: 1) a dedication to one of my dogs (much as it makes no sense), and 2) the perfect track for sprinting (run fast for your mother, run fast for your father…). When I’m in the mood to sing along (which is every time) I add more characters to the chorus lyrics — run for your children, for your sisters and brothers, for your nephews and your nieces, for your uncles and your aunts, for your grandfather and your grandmother— until I run out of people. It’s an addicting song and I can’t play it only once at any given time.
Florence Welch kills this song when she does it live. She really is one-of-a-kind — so much so that, in my opinion, no one can dare touch this song. When I found out it was performed on Glee my instant thought was, how bad could it be? After all, the numbers I’ve seen on the show are pretty awesome. But oh was it painful to watch when I finally saw the episode. I don’t follow the series so I don’t know if there was something tongue-in-cheek about the performance but I just found it odd that the lead singers were smiling and beaming throughout the song, as though Florence Welch had conceived it as a jolly, happy, empowering tune. Then again, the show is called Glee.
Can’t believe that this song is just #44 on my Last.Fm charts. It simply isn’t possible because it’s been on my playlist since early last year. Oh now I know it: scrobbling is blocked at work and I usually play this out loud and on repeat in my room.
